The Sweet Simplicity of an Empty Page
by fukuji mihoko
Summary: Junpei takes Chidori out on a date. This spells disaster for Chidori's favorite dress.  :Chidori/Junpei:


"Whoa! I-I'm sorry- I'm so sorry! H-hey, lemme get you a towel. D-don't be too pissed off with me, kay? Kay… Ah, you're looking at me with those creepy eyes… Don't curse me, it was an accident! Ahahaha…"

Chidori doesn't blink. Instead, she stares at Junpei; her blank, dead, doll's eyes narrowed. Chidori looks the same as always on the outside- an unchanging doll with porcelain skin to match the glassy eyes, with only one expression (and that expression is _apathy_).

But on the inside, Chidori's mind is reeling.

Her heart is racing.

Why did she come here?

Why is she sat here, in this… cheap, obnoxious fast food restaurant? (Wild Duck Burger? What a ridiculous name; stupid- just like Junpei and his wide smiles and frantic apologies.)

The scent of fries fill the air, so thick it's almost sickening; and it's enough to turn Chidori's stomach. The floor is thick with grease and crumpled up serviettes. Barely-touched burgers, devoid of meat but oozing bloody sauce and red-drenched lettuce remain on the table-tops; left there for somebody else to clean up. Crushed drinks cartons and chewed-up straws litter the floor.

It's loud and crowded and noisy; though Chidori can't imagine why such a garish place is so popular, or why so many people have congregated there. Chidori hates crowds and she hates noise. It's too bright- too colorful- and the interior décor is just a _**mess**_; ugly tiled flooring and badly placed plants that insult Chidori's artistic sensibilities until she feels like opening her sketchbook and immersing herself in the beauty of the blank page just to forget how ugly her surroundings are.

Just to remind herself there is still some beauty in the world.

Chidori hates clutter, and she hates mess, and she hates it when people throw color around a canvas- because white is far more meaningful than a thousand rainbow hues, in its understated beauty.

White isn't as complicated or confusing as real life.

Wild Duck Burger, with its unrefined wallpaper and sticky tabletops and screaming children, is everything Chidori hates. It's everything Chidori _loathes_ about crowded areas- and if she never saw another color again for the rest of her life she'd be happy for it.

Chidori likes white.

White is simple.

Chidori can _understand _white.

Chidori doesn't belong here. She knows she doesn't. She stands out, in her strange clothes, like a lily in a bed of blood-red roses.

Why is she here?

She knows the answer- because his face is doodled on so many pages of her sketchbook its enough to make herself frown at her own stupidity.

She's here because of him.

She's here because everything about him makes Chidori question who she is and what she's feeling; and every stupid word that comes from his stupid mouth (idiot- he's such an _**idiot**_) sends Chidori's whole world spinning in a mess of color she doesn't understand.

Chidori is sat in Wild Duck Burger with ketchup staining her white skirts and Junpei is attempting to mop it up (does he think he's a 'hero'; swooping in to rescue to princess? That would be… laughable; considering Chidori's stronger than she looks, and it was Junpei who knocked the sauce over to begin with), and she hates it- she's out of place- but as long as he's with her she supposes it doesn't really matter.

He asked her to come with him.

She could have refused- but she didn't.

She should have refused- because Chidori has always known she hates places like this, and she'd always known she wouldn't belong. Agreeing to do things she hates isn't sensible or logical, it's ridiculous; almost as ridiculous as the look on Junpei's face, and the ugly bird mascot bobbing its oversized head in the corner.

Why didn't she refuse?

The tomato sauce stains Chidori's dress. It leaves an ugly, light-red mark against all that frothy, foamy lace- like a cancerous spot or an ugly bruise.

It won't wash out easily. White fabric is always hard to clean.

The world is filled with so much color, and it doesn't allow people to remain blank canvases; the world won't let Chidori remain monochrome as she so desperately wishes, because everything around her is so bright and vibrant it hurts the eyes.

Everything around Chidori stains her with color- like fingertips reaching to brush her skin.

And, like the sauce on dress-

The feelings in Chidori's heart just won't go away.

The sauce that stains Chidori's dress- the sauce Junpei split on her (he'd tried to serve her tasteless food with a flourish, as though it were something impressive- but it hadn't turned out very well)- will wash away eventually.

But the confused mess of feelings in Chidori's heart won't.

She can't remain an empty page forever.

* * *

><p><strong>an: **I feel this oneshot is a little superficial (um… I'm not sure I like it too much ._.) but I hope you enjoy it all the same ^_^;;

**~renahhchen xoxo**


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